Maggie being a mom at Windy Meadows Family Farm

Windy Meadows Family Farm is run by a the friendliest family.  Tucked within the tall pines and peaceful country side, you'll find Windy Meadows in Campbell, Texas, North of interstate highway 30, off highway 50.  They sell the healthiest chickens and freshest hand picked chicken eggs you will ever eat!

From their site:

The Mike and Connie Hale Family and their children have raised pastured chicken and grass fed beef and lamb on their 40 acres of  Windy Meadows Family Farm  in North East Texas for nearly twenty years.  Their concerns for food safety for their own children led them to the decision for raise natural meats without added hormones, antibiotics or feed stimulants. They now have a state-inspected poultry processing facility on their farm that produces pastured chicken and sausage for taste-discriminating palates in the Dallas area. Their customers fall into two categories: those who want pastured meats because they are raise in a more responsible manner, and those who simply want the best-tasting chicken.  Some of the chicken raised by Windy Meadows Family Farm grace the tables of some of the finest four-star restaurants in Dallas that are seeking  locally grown and responsibly raised nataural meats.  Their chicken is available at several loctions in the Metroplex, including several buying clubs and farmers markets.

I'm fortunate enough to live down the road from their farm.  I drive out on Mondays, I call first, and pick up my usual order (3 whole chickens, 2 dozens eggs, and bag of chicken soup bones).  For everyone living near downtown Dallas, one convenient place to get their pastured meats is from the Texas Meats Supernatural at the Dallas Farmers Market booth in Shed 2.  Look for the wood cabin.

The first thing I noticed after buying my first order from Windy Meadows was the minimal amount of fat on the whole chickens.  I slathered that first chicken with butter, smoked salt & fresh ground pepper, stuffed it with a cut lemon and few cloves of garlic then baked it at 425ºF for 1 1/2 hours.  Oh ho ho ho BABY!

Very little fat came off that chicken, I had just enough of the juices to make up a scrumptious sauce to pour over mashed potatoes.  It was beautiful, I almost cried when I tasted the difference.  All this time, wasted eating store bought chickens and having to cover it other ingredients to help them to have flavor.  When all along, I could have been serving my family chicken that was raised as God intended.  I'm glad to have Windy Meadows meats within reach.

As for the eggs, same praise is shouted here.  For years now, I've paid extra to have the cage free chicken eggs from the grocery store.  But even their flavor & yolk color does not compare to eggs from chickens raised on fresh grass, roaming around chasing & eating grasshoppers, worms & other insects.  The happy chicken's yolk is a golden orange with notably more flavor you want on your plate for breakfast and in your baking.  You haven't eaten the best quiche, unless it's been made from happy chicken eggs.

Check out Windy Meadows Family Farm website to learn more about them.

If you don't live anywhere near Dallas or Campbell, Texas, that's okay.  You can still find grass fed chickens and their eggs near you.  Go to Local Harvest.org, they have a wealthy database of farms, farmer's markets, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), food clubs and their own online store.  I recommend joining their newsletter to learn about new farms opening up, festival information and when fresh season crops are available.

We decided to have a traditional Fletcher's Corny Dog, dark golden brown, 3/4 cooked cornbread batter, mystery meat wiener on a stick.

To play the video, simply click on top of the player window.

Well folks, I survived the stew judging and I HAD A BLAST!

Saturday morning, Sulphur Springs was filled with smoke from all the campfires burning at the festival.  I kid you not.  I live 2 minutes from the festival grounds and our neighborhood looked like heavy fog had set in.  It was good smellin' fog though.

I had the good fortune to be a judge for the chicken stews. (Nothing against the beef stews, I just like eating chicken.)  The stew contest officials divided the judges into a beef and chicken group.  Each with their own room that came equipped with all the drinks, cheese, crackers, napkins and spoons we would need.

The experience was fun and scary all at the same time! As large, nameless cups of boiling hot stews were passed down from judge to judge, we each observed, sniffed, grabbed a fresh spoon, took a dip, sniffed again, poked, blew the hot off the stew, and finally, took the bite.

It was up to the stew judges to decide on a scale from 0 to 10, how the stew ranked in color, aroma, texture and taste.  One score to say it all.  I believe our group had 39 chicken stews to sample, then we had to re-taste the top ten. We were all full by that time, pretty darn full.

The judges, had no idea who won.  We had to wait it out just like everyone else.  So while the officials tallied the scores, I went around the festival and captured music, photos and video of the great spirit of this East Texas experience.

I found myself fascinated with all the styles and functions of the steel frames that held all those heavy cast iron pots.  All ages participated.  I witnessed stew making being passed from one generation to the next.  Folks dressed up in their favorite Western attire and lookin' fine.

The sounds of laughter, the music of the Sulphur Springs High School Drum Line, the aroma of campfires and stew filled the air, I couldn't help feel proud and honored to be part of such an event.

For more information about this festival, read World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest, Sulphur Springs, Texas

I can't tell you just how excited I am about this year's Hopkins County Stew Contest. Ever since we've lived here, I have completely enjoyed our own Hopkins County Fall Festival and the opportunity to eat as many bowls of fresh hot stew as I can eat for just 5 dollars! The Fall Festival begins on the second Saturday of September, each year, with the Stew Cook-off always on the third Saturday.

And y'all, this year, I will be participating as a "Celebrity Judge!"
That's what the letter said, "Celebrity Judge."
I get to taste & judge ALL THE STEWS FOR FREE, YEEE-HAW!

Let me just say, although Sulphur Springs may be a small East Texas town, there's a whole community of foodies and great cooks here that KNOW how to put on a spread.

You see that man in the above photo? Does he look like he's playin' around?
NO sir'ee!  He camped out overnight on the Fall Festival grounds, woke up BEFORE DAWN, stoked his cooking fire and started building his stew from scratch when the sun broke the dark sky.  He's been peeling, cutting, stoking and stirring all morning long.  And why?

Well, this year's cook-off features over 132 cooking teams competing for several thousand dollars in prize money.  Cooking over open wood fires, teams prepare hearty chicken and beef stews in huge cast-iron pots.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! The atmosphere will send you back in time as gingham and calico-clad ladies stir simmering pots and bearded men in denim and homespun digs stoke glowing campfires. Teams compete for prizes for "most appropriate heritage campsite and costumes", as well, in addition to the stew prizes.

We've even been on The Food Network's "All American Festivals" show in 2003, which featured our 2002 World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest.

WANT IN ON THE ACTION? WELL COME EAT WITH US!

The World Champion Hopkins County Stew Contest is held in Sulphur Springs, Texas.  Right by the Chamber of Commerce and Hopkins County Regional Civic Center, 1200 Houston Street.

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The cost for all-you-can-eat stew and fixin's is $5. Children under 6 eat free.
Stew tickets will go on sale at 9:00 AM
Stew will be served to the public beginning at 11:00 AM.
Service tents will open at 10:45 AM for attendees to obtain stew bowls, cheese, crackers, etc... Judges' samples to be delivered to the judges' tent at 10:45 AM.

COME EARLY and get your bowls. Folks around here don't mosey up to the stew pots, they stand in line when it comes time to eat!  This is the largest event in our county each year with a crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 in attendance.  So when the clock strikes 10:20ish go stand around the best smellin' stew you can find, start looking for the veteren stew makers, you can't miss them.  Then, work your way around.

BIG TIP, don't toss away your bowl & spoon!  You only get one each. As soon as you finish one stew, you go find another to eat.  I ask to have my bowl filled 1/3 of the way, then eat while I'm standing in the next stew line, and get another 1/3, and keep moving until I'm full.

For more pictures from past festivals check out the Hopkins County Fall Festival site.

I'll be hanging around the judges tent, so come find me and say 'Hello!'

Do I have your attention now?

The next time you find yourself traveling in Texas on interstate highway East 35 and you know you're going to drive through a little town named West. STOP!!!

West is located 20 miles North of Waco, Texas. There's a great bakery known as the Little Czech Bakery that is AWESOME!!! It's right off the highway on the East side. You can't miss it, just follow the cars.

Once inside you'll have the hardest time deciding which kolache you want to eat, i.e. jalapeno & cheese or strawberry & cream cheese, there's almost too much to choose from. And this is a Texas bakery, nothing is small.

The Little Czech bakery has a large assortment of breads that will leave your head spinning, beer bread, olive bread, jalapeno bread, foccacia, and on and on.  This foccacia was FANTASTIC with our pasta dinner.

Have you heard of this bakery?  Have you eaten here, too?

Coming back from our restful and beautiful weekend down in Corsicana, Texas, we stopped off highway 19 heading North at a roadside Peach Orchard. The little town of Emory was just a little North of us.

Although the peaches were beautiful, they weren't the reason we stopped.
It was the backend of the Peach Stand that had the REAL GOODS...
Made fresh from the orchard, Peach Ice Cream!

That man standing in the back had a HOT job and a LONG line of customers. It really took him no time at all to bust out the ice cream. He knew EXACTLY what he was doing...Cha-Ching$$$

It was frozen, creamy and had bits of peaches all through out...

DOH!

BRAIN FREEZE!

Ever since we stopped at that peach stand, I've been wanting to try my hand at making homemade ice cream. I'm seriously considering scouring thrift stores for one of those ice cream makers that was hardly ever used.